The Shiba Inu who inspired the ‘Doge’ meme and Dogecoin has died

Kabosu, the 18-year-old Shiba Inu that inspired the iconic “Doge” meme, has died.

Kabosu’s owner Atsuko Sato, who lives in Japan, wrote in a blog post that the shiba inu “fell into a deep sleep” before passing away.

“Outside the window, birds were singing on a beautiful morning,” Sato wrote. “As I was touching her, she gently passed away... I think she was the happiest dog in the world.”

Sato posted in late December that Kabosu had lymphoma leukemia and that her condition was worsening. She was suffering from a poor liver and had jaundice, Sato said, adding that she still had an appetite and was drinking water.

Kabosu became one of the most recognizable figures on the internet in the 2010s after a photo of her looking puzzlingly at the camera became the Doge meme, often overlaid with Comic Sans lettering mimicking the dog’s fictional internal dialogue.

In 2013, Doge was named Know Your Meme’s “Meme of the Year.” That same year, it inspired Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency initially created as satire that later became popular. Dogecoin sponsors Watford Football Club in England, and Kabosu’s face is now emblazoned on the players’ sleeves. Doge was added as a word on Dictionary.com in 2015.

In 2021, an NFT of the original Doge meme was purchased using cryptocurrency valued at $4,100,000, making it the most expensive NFT ever sold at the time.

Kabosu was also a celebrity in Japan — but not just because of the meme. Sato’s blog, where she posted photos of Kabosu and three cats, was the fourth most popular pet blog in Japan in 2013, The Verge reported. There, “they are known as real beings with lives and personalities… quite unlike the flat anonymity of doge fame.”